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Open source needs amazing, curious and thoughtful people, but we aren't very good at broadcasting what we need in our job descriptions. Many job postings seem to have been cut and paste from an older posting or even from another company's posting. The tech industry has a surplus of openings, but many companies are still competing for the same small pool of workers. Getting your job postings in front of people who are outside that small pool starts with writing an amazing and thoughtful job description and then doing some creative thinking about where you post it. If you're looking to diversify your workplace, you'll probably have to examine some existing assumptions about who will be "a good fit" or how your tasks are divided up. Highly skilled workers have choices about how to spend their days, and they do not have time for companies that treat them like cogs in a machine. Respect your potential applicants and you will find that they will respect your company enough to come work for you, and grow with you, and help your project succeed.

Deb Nicholson is a free software policy expert and a passionate community advocate. She is the Community Outreach Director for the Open Invention Network, the world's largest patent non-aggression community which serves Linux, GNU, Android and other key FOSS projects. She’s won... Read More →